Nearly a thousand gay rights activists marched through central New Delhi on Sunday to demand an end to discrimination against gays in India's deeply conservative society. Many at the parade said the recent Supreme Court decision criminalizing gay sex was a denial of their human rights. Read More
4 Russian Journalists, Activist Seek Asylum in West, Citing Anti-LGBT Abuse
Three journalists and an LGBT activist have fled Russia in recent days, seeking asylum in Germany and the U.S. on the basis of alleged homophobic abuse, a series of recent news reports revealed. Lauding the move, St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov told reporters that now it is the best time for Russia's gays to leave their country.
"It is clear that St. Petersburg 'homos' felt that they were needed [by the West]. This is the right time to leave Russia, in a state of political humiliation. This situation even gives these people the possibility to claim social benefits [in the West]," said Milonov, who is well known for his anti-gay sentiments. Read More
Gay asylum seekers fear arrest for reporting rape in Papua New Guinea
An asylum seeker on Manus Island says he has been raped twice in detention in the past four months, but fears going to the police because he has been told he will be jailed for being homosexual. Mohammad* has reported the assaults to camp security, but lives in fear of further attacks: months after being raped – on two separate occasions by two different men – the man is still living in the same compound as his alleged attackers.
Other gay asylum seekers in the detention centre say they are regularly sexually harassed and assaulted, and have contemplated suicide if they are forced to live in the PNG community. In an interview from detention, Mohammad told Guardian Australia he is regularly sexually assaulted by fellow detainees, but is too scared to report the attacks because homosexuality is illegal in Papua New Guinea and he has been told by camp authorities he will be jailed. Read More
Love in exile
In 2010, Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a transgender woman, was imprisoned in Malawi for getting engaged to a man. Pardoned and freed, she now lives in exile in South Africa. The international campaign to secure her pardon and resettlement in South Africa represented a triumph for the global cause of LGBT rights. But for Chimbalanga, who unexpectedly found herself on the front lines of an intensifying battle over these rights in Africa, there is little sense of victory. Mark Gevisser reports on an uneasy triumph for the global LGBT rights movement. Read More
The LGBT Kids Who Flee Their Countries And Their Families For The U.S.
Some of the thousands of Central American children trying to get to the United States are seeking a love and acceptance they can’t get at home. Advocates say most LGBT migrants don’t petition for asylum in Mexico, largely because it doesn’t promise the same work opportunities as the U.S., and Mexico also has high rates of anti-LGBT violence. Advocates who work with LGBT people seeking asylum in the U.S. say that Mexico is among the most common countries their clients are fleeing. Read More
LGBT migrants face abuse, discrimination in Mexico
In 2013, Mexican immigration officials near the Guatemalan border took into custody Ender Manuel Martínez, an LGBT rights advocate from El Salvador, when he tried to apply for asylum because of death threats he said he received in his Central American homeland because of his activism and sexual orientation.
He alleges authorities at the facility housed him with those who were mentally ill, did not allow him to bathe, forced him to sleep on a damp floor and demanded “sexual favors” from him in exchange for better food. Officials transferred Martínez to another detention facility, but he was still subjected to sexual harassment and anti-gay discrimination and was denied emergency healthcare.
Mexican law bans anti-gay discrimination, but the country’s immigration statutes do not include LGBT-specific protections. Read More
Mozambique: Gay Mozambicans Demand Recognition
Lambda, the sole Mozambican association defending the rights of LGBT people, has protested publicly against the illegal refusal by the Justice Ministry to register it as a bona fide association.
On Monday Lambda took out a full page advertisement in the Maputo daily paper “Noticias” protesting at the discrimination it has suffered. Lambda first submitted its application for legal recognition as an association almost seven years ago, in January 2008. Read More
Montenegro's Gay Pride Parade Draws About 200 Activists Despite Nation's Conservative Mindset
Protected by hundreds of riot police, about 200 gay activists marched peacefully on Sunday in Montenegro, a staunchly conservative Balkan country seeking EU membership.
Carrying banners reading "Let's Love Each Other" or "This is Just Beginning," gay activists gathered in the capital, Podgorica, as police deployed heavily, practically blocking the city center. Read More
LGBT group steps out, marches for pride and acceptance in Pune
People from all walks of life took part in the LGBT parade, which took place in the conservative Indian city. Participants covered many stretches of the city singing songs like 'Born This Way' by international pop artist Lady Gaga', the paean for fearless love 'Jab pyaar kiya toh darna kya' and 'Hum honge kamyaab'.
"Society does not accept us, but we are asserting our right to be here in this march. We respect everyone and deserve respect," said one participant who had traveled from Mumbai. Read More
Thousands of Brazilians March in Gay Rights Parade
Thousands of Brazilians took part Sunday in Rio de Janeiro's 19th Gay pride parade, speaking out against homophobia in a country that has seen years of violence targeting the gay community.
Brazil recorded 312 murders of people in the gay community in 2013. The country averages about 300 murders motivated by sexual orientation a year. Read More
Chile’s LGBT movement marches united
Chile has celebrated a historical moment: for the first time, the LGBT movement marched united to demand equal rights. Although collaborating will always be difficult, the success of this march has added new momentum into the LGBT movement in Chile and stands for a powerful collaborative force. Just days ago, the front was awarded a grant by UNESCO and the Chilean National Institute for Human Rights, which aims at strengthening collaboration between NGOs. Read More
Dozens of anti-gay Russian nationalists swarm three gay rights activists
Two young women and a man campaigning for gay rights in Russia were met with about 100 nationalist protesters on Sunday, who threw tomatoes and shouted anti-gay abuse.
Dozens of nationalists gathered in the southern city of Lipetsk over the weekend to oppose a rally of three gay rights activists, a news report said.
Two young women and a man met Sunday in Lipetsk and walked to the city's central Sobornaya Ploshchad, where their demonstration for LGBT rights had been expected to take place, local news site LRNews reported. The rally was greeted by about 100 nationalists and conservative activists, as well as police officers deployed to prevent violence, the report said.
One of the rally participants, who gave her name as Reida Linn, said she and her friends wanted to draw public attention to “fighting homophobia, discrimination and violations of the Constitution and of the rights of LGBT people,” LRNews reported. Read More